Canine Spotlight: Great Dane

Continuing on with very large dogs, I would like to present to you another favorite of mine. To be honest, I am not usually into canines unless they are very large. There are exceptions to this rule and I may show them to you later. Today, we look at the Great Dane.

You may have already heard of Great Danes; however, you likely have not seen them day by day. They are not your average puppy. Fully grown, the Great Dane can be as large as 30 inches at the shoulders, and that is a minimum. The largest recorded was a whopping 44 inches. They can often weigh up to 120 pounds, sometimes more. The breed is mainly German.

Great Danes are also very smooth and muscular in appearance. They are good working dogs as was the Saint Bernard from last week's spotlight. Also similar to the Saint Bernard, they are known to be gentle giants. They are very loyal and even considered to be noble creatures. They are usually used in hunting for which they are very, very good at. Looking to buy one for yourself? Expect a puppy to cost you somewhere between $600 and $3000 depending on the breeder and the dog itself. This is not your average puppy.

I'm moving onto fiction because we have a few points to hit there. There was a very popular comic strip by Brad Anderson called "Marmaduke" that ran from 1954 to 2015. It featured a Great Dane. I did actually see this comic a lot as a kid. I can't remember much about it, but I remember loving the art style. I even mistakenly thought the comic was done by Disney, but I could not find anything to back this up later on. It was later made into a live action motion picture in 2010.

My personal favorite, and probably most obscure, Great Dane character was Brutus from the 1966 Disney film "The Ugly Dachshund." This was one of the few "Dean Jones vs Dog" movies that Disney was doing at the time such as "The Shaggy D.A." The movie is about a Great Dane that was hilariously raised by a a bunch of wiener dogs. He suffers an identity crisis because of this and spends the movie trying to be a much smaller dog than he really is. It was hilarious!

Likely the most famous Great Dane in modern fiction is Scooby Doo. I say this because they began making episodes in 1969 and pretty much never stopped. Anything that can last that long must be considered a classic. This Great Dane was and still is the animal sidekick of a group of mystery solvers who have nothing better to do but go around trying to figure out who has the mask on. Scooby's relationship with his best friend Shaggy was really what made it all work. I hope to see this character remain in popular fiction till the end of time.

Personally, I see the Great Dane as a giant and noble person. Whenever he enters a place, everyone looks upon him with reverence. He is a hero to the weak and helpless. It is one of those cases where his largeness actually fits his spiritual nature. The latter is not always the case with everybody.

Check out some of those beautiful pictures of Great Danes. I hope you enjoy them as much as I have!

Thank you for reading my blog. If you enjoyed it, you can comment below, or you can email me at tkwadeauthor@gmail.com. Rorry, Raggy!

Marmaduke Comic

Scooby Doo and Shaggy